(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Shortly after being cut off by its former upstream provider, BitTorrent tracker OpenBitTorrent could be facing another court battle from music industry lobby group IFPI.
According to various reports, IFPI has sent complaints to OpenBitTorrent’s new host in Spain, SoloGigabit (www.sologigabit.com).
“Only in Spain have BitTorrent sites been repeatedly found to operate within the boundaries of the law,” notes news site TorrentFreak, making the run-up to legal action all the more unexpected. This has led many commentators to ponder that Spain’s safe-haven status could go the way of Sweden’s.
TorrentFreak reports that the OpenBitTorrent tracker does not violate Spanish law, and serves only “as a facilitator of the communication between torrent users” not unlike BitTorrent client software. Industry organizations, however, have successfully complained that such services facilitate or induce copyright infringement.
The operators of OpenBitTorrent told TorrentFreak that they are determined to keep the site online, and are prepared to move to yet another location, and to a ISP that can stand up to music industry threats.
Last month, online download blog RLSLOG was reportedly shut down by its Web host due to a copyright complaint over its content. The site, while claiming to be a news blog, featured links to “new content” that often meant pirated material.
